Choking in Rats

Well, I thought I'd take this opportunity to talk about choking in rats, since I had my own issue with a choking rat last night. I had let the rats out to free range, which means they run around in what I term, the rat room, as it is where their cages are. Anyway, when I went to put them away, I couldn't find Jasmine in any of her normal hiding spots. When I finally found her on the bed in this room, she was drooling. She also had labored breathing. I had another experience with this, where I was letting Izzie run around with me while I was eating dinner, she stole a chip off my plate and had a bite before I could take it away from her. She "choked" on it, too. She was fine after about an hour, but in my panic I rushed her to our local emergency vet who doesn't even see rats, lol. Anyway, so I knew the signs. In my calm, but panicky on the inside way, I looked choking in rats up on the internet.

I thought I would share with you what I found out. I give Debbie. D. full credit for this, as I am taking this all off her site:

Because of the arrangement of the rat’s throat, true choking is rare. If your rat appears to be choking the most likely cause is a piece of food or other substance stuck in her throat. This can cause gagging and drooling. A rat who is gagging will open her mouth wide and pull her ears back.

As long as the rat can breathe, don’t do anything accept try to comfort her. Anything you try to do to stop the gagging may make the situation worse. The offending food will eventually pass down in most cases. You might try offering your rat a small piece of bread to see if that will help push the food down, but do not use doughy bread which might make things worse.

If your rat is having real trouble breathing, and not just labored breathing, you can try doing the Heimlich maneuver, by pressing sharply up and in underneath your rat’s ribcage. Or you can do a procedure called “the fling” which uses centrifugal force. Hold your rat firmly around the neck with one hand, and by the base of the tail with the other to hold her securely. Make sure there are no objects within an arm’s length. Lift the rat overhead and bring her down in a rapid arc, so that at the end of the path she’s tail up and head down. This can be repeated 3-4 times, then give the rat a rest, check her breathing, and see if anything is visible in the mouth. This is extremely effective in dislodging objects or mucus in the throat.

If neither of these techniques helps, you can put your mouth over the rat’s mouth and try sucking the obstruction out. Be sure you do not cover the rat’s nose. If the rat is still having trouble breathing, try a shot of dexamethasone.

If choking or gagging persists for more than 6 hours, take your rat to the vet. There may be an object lodged in the throat too big to pass down, or there might be a tumor or some other problem. Sometimes respiratory disease can cause gagging and choking due to swelling of the airway and/or too much mucus.

If your rat gags frequently, she may have mega-esophagus, a problem where the nerves to the esophagus are defective. In this case the rat must be put on a liquid diet. Offer free choice of Ensure adult nutritional drink or a similar product. Also give the rat a liquid vitamin B supplement to supply 1 mcg of B12 daily. Be sure keep all paper away from the rat as eating paper can cause a fatal blockage.

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Okay, that is Debbie D.'s advice on choking. A major thing of importance should be noted here: The way to tell if your rat is having real trouble breathing is to check their extremities, nose, tongue for a bluish color. If your rat looks like they are having a hard time breathing, but they are not turning blue, they are getting enough air, and are probably just uncomfortable. It is not advisable if they are getting enough air in a choking situation to do the Heimlich or The Fling, as it could make things worse. These situations are for the true emergencies where the rat is not breathing. If in doubt, contact your vet immediately.

Also, a serious story about choking from the Rat and Mouse Gazette website:

One afternoon, I fed my rat, Shoes, a bite sized Nutter Butter cookie, as a treat, before we left for the day. Unfortunately the peanut butter got packed all the way down her throat and up into her nose. Later, I found out from the vet that the cookie dries out their mouth and the peanut butter is already very dry, which makes this a dangerous combination. I believe that rats are unable to vomit, which make this situation that much worse. My husband and I found her very weak and struggling to breathe when we arrived home that evening around 6:00. We went to your website and searched for choking. Your information was great, so we took your advice and brought her to the vet. We stayed there for many hours with little improvement. The vet even took Shoes home with her that night, so she could keep a close eye on her. She died at around 2:00am. Please pass this warning about Nutter Butter cookies on to your readers. It may save someone else the agony and guilty feelings I experienced as a pet owner.
~ Elizabeth R. Swanson
(added August 2002)

Well, my story with Jasmine had a happy ending. She made the gagging type look, and continued frothing (which as scary as it is to watch, is actually good, because it aids in eventually helping the food to pass) and did have labored breathing. It did scare me, as she got lethargic at times and it was obvious she was uncomfortable. I continued to check her extremities, nose, mouth, etc. and she was not turning blue at all, so I knew she was getting enough air. She was just probably very uncomfortable. By the time I went to bed, she was doing much better, and by this morning, she was completely back to herself. I have no clue what she choked on. The only thing I can think of, is at one point I heard someone rustling around in the rat food bag. Maybe she got a piece of food and was so excited, she inhaled it. : ) It's neither here nor there, she is okay and that is all that matters. : )